KATHMANDU, Dec 7: An international conference on Hindu Kush mountain concluded on Wednesday with a resolution to adopt resilient measures for the communities and ecosystem to brace for “shocks, recover from shocks, and bounce forward” to emerge stronger than before.
The international conference entitled 'Resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya: Developing Solutions towards a Sustainable Future for Asia held in Kathmandu from December 3 to 6 was jointly organized by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
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ICIMOD and its partners have been working on developing solutions for resilient buildings, promoting regional cooperation, and enhancing knowledge for sustainable mountain development.
David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD, drew the attention to the crucial need to include youths and women in future mountain planning and development across all sectors.
Topics ranging from disaster risk reduction to gender equity and building social capital were discussed in different sessions of the conference over the past four days, calling for collective action to increase the resilience of mountain communities in the HKH, where impacts from climate change, out-migration, and dwindling natural resources pose formidable challenges.
“HKH challenges are often trans-boundary and geopolitical in nature. Addressing such challenges requires transformative, inclusive and scalable actions at all governance levels,” said Rojina Manandhar, program officer with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The HKH is a source of 10 major river systems in Asia that provide water, ecosystem, and livelihoods to more than 210 million people. The region holds and distributes water for more than 1.3 billion people living downstream the river basins.
